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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Review: The "300" Workout

Yesterday, I posted on the workout the actors did to prepare for 300. I was going to just try a couple of the lifts in my next workout, which was supposed to be on Friday. But I ended up with a couple of hours to kill today at the gym, so I figured, "What the hell."

I did the workout, slightly modified. Please bear in mind that this was my fourth consecutive full-body workout this week, so I was already sore and a little tired.

As it turned out, I could only do 25 of the hanging knees to elbows crunches, so I did 25 Ab Waves (on a high incline, crunch up to the right, then back down like a pendulum up to the left -- that's one). I could have gotten all 50 of the planned crunches, but it would have taken forever.

The deadlifts were far too light -- I could easily do 185-225 for 50, but my hamstrings were sore today so this was just fine. The push ups were also too easy -- I did them in a set of 35 and then 15 more. I also should have done the DB snatches in sets of 50 for each side. The last set of pull ups was brutal, and I ended up getting them in sets of 5 or 6 after the first 12 or so. The box jumps were also too easy -- might want to add weight (a couple of 15 lb DBs).

All in all, not a great workout for me. I spent another 45 minutes doing other stuff (cable crossovers for chest [100 lbs each side for 10 reps x 3], unilateral shrugs on the smith machine [110 lbs each side for 10 reps x 3], one arm row on the smith [110 each side for 10 reps x 3], and smith bench press [90 for 25 reps, and 145 for 15 reps]).

The best part of the 300 workout is the intensity -- definitely a lot more cardio-based than most lifting programs. I was breathing hard, but my muscles (aside from abs and lats) didn't feel too taxed.

Still, I will adapt this for some of my clients. They aren't in the same shape I am, and this will rock them pretty hard even if I make it easier.